AI

[Rachels]

Hello all😊

I've been absent for quite a while and wonder if anybody's using AI for restoring?
I've seen a number of restores on Facebook and some are quite impressive, others are terrible and look really artificial.

I'd quite like to try AI in conjunction with my Photoshop CS but have no idea which would be a good one.

TIA

[McGroger]

Hi, Rachel.

AI was a pretty hot topic on here for a year or so while several restorers were experimenting with it. Results varied wildly between fairly sensible enhancements to, as you say, those that "are terrible and look really artificial". It seems to have settled down again now with most people doing true restores. Unfortunately we lost a few restorers (and possibly some potential posters) in the process because they felt their hours spent on a traditional restore was not appreciated, while an AI version produced with a quick couple of clicks was often praised.

I had a bit to say about it here: https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=877762.0

I use AI sparingly as, I think, do a small handful of others. The one I've settled on is Topaz's Photo AI. It's not one of the free or really cheap ones but it's under continual development and it allows for a lot of fine tuning within the app--some of the others have a "one size fits all" approach. Also, to my eye anyway, it seems to be getting closer than the others I've tried to maintaining the true appearance of a person--as long as you're not trying to go from really low res/really blurry to really high res.

I hope other people will post their opinions, to give you a "feel" for the situation.

Cheers,
Peter

[Rachels]

Hi Peter and a huge thank you for such a comprehensive reply
Much appreciated.

What a shame people left, but I quite understand why. One click and it's done instead of spending hours/days driving yourself nuts is so irritating and especially annoying are the comments about 'how clever' the restorer must be!!!
Good to see a few name on here from years ago and thank goodness they're continuing.

One of the main reasons I'm interested in trying AI, is because I have 2 very faded pics of two of my great great grandmothers, which would definitely benefit from something more than traditional restoring.
Sadly, I don't have the originals so rescanning is not an option.

I'm about to click on your link to read the Rootschat thread and I'll have a good look at Topaz later. It sounds like a useful one.

Again, much thanks for the reply.

 

Rachel

[loord74]

All AI programs images field depend on reconstructing facial features only.... The latest versions of Adobe Photoshop have a lot of capabilities... You can download the latest version of Photoshop to see the capabilities of AI

[Rachels]

Thank you for that but I don't need a new version of Photoshop.

I just wanted to try out AI and then think about how, or if, I might use it in conjunction with Photoshop.

It certainly does a good job re scratches!